We are pleased to announce the release of the Oscar® winning film "Chernobyl Heart" - the second film in the double feature HBO® documentary series "America Undercover" airing in September. The film will premiere September 9th on HBO and will continue to air throughout the month of September. Featuring the work of the International Children's Heart Foundation in Belarus and Adi Roche of the Chernobyl Children's Project International, the documentary focuses on the continuing effects of Chernobyl on the children of Belarus.  A schedule of the HBO airing times is available here.
Don't Miss "Chernobyl Heart"!  Two More HBO Airings Days Remain

The remaining "Chernobyl Heart" showtimes are:
Saturday October 9 on HBO2-EAST at 10:30 AM Eastern Time (ET); and on HBO2-WEST at 1:30 PM ET
Wednesday October 13 on HBO2-EAST at 2:45 PM ET; and on HBO2-WEST at 5:45 PM ET
Viewers with HBO On-Demand may also view the film at any time.  Don't miss this wonderful documentary!

"Healing the Heart of Croatia" by Joseph Kerrigan and William Novick, M.D.

Copies of the book "Healing the Heart of Croatia" written by Joseph Kerrigan and Dr. Novick are available for purchase from the Foundation.  This inspiring book details the Foundation's initial committment to war-torn Croatia in the 1990's.  Further details and an order form are available here.

Team Readies for Sixth Minsk Mission then Two Latin America Missions

The ICHF will be returning to Minsk, Belarus September 18th to October 3. The trip will be the 6th to Minsk and with this trip we will have operated on more than 125 children in Belarus.

Following the Minsk mission, the Foundation will be traveling to Bogotá, Colombia October 10th to 23rd and Managua, Nicaragua October 23rd to November 6th. These two trips underscore our commitment to those children suffering in Latin America.  A slide show presentation describing our Latin American missions is available here.

Memphis Screening Premier of "Chernobyl Heart"

HBO® is sponsoring the Memphis Screening Premier of "Chernobyl Heart" and "Indian Point" at the Malco Paradiso on Wednesday, August 25 at 6:00 p.m. Maryann DeLeo, the Oscar® winning producer will be in attendance. The evening begins with a cocktail reception from 6:00-7:00 p.m., followed by the screenings of "Indian Point" and "Chernobyl Heart." Limited seats are still available. RSVP to Sandy McMahan at 869-4243 or .

Team Returns from Bogota

An ICHF team, led by Dr. William Novick, returned from Bogota on July 17. The ICHF team, along with the local Colombian team, operated on 38 children. The trip was sponsored by Fundacion Abood Shaio and FedEx. We plan to visit Bogota again in October.


Team Returns from Managua

An 18-member team, led by Dr. Tom Karl of San Francisco, returned from Managua on Saturday, June 26 after successfully performing operations on 21 children. The trip was sponsored by Dr. Karl, Rotary District 7470 Gift of Life Program, Rotary District 7500 Gift of Life Program and FedEx.


Team Returns from Beijing Children's Hospital

The ICHF team returned on Saturday June 5th, completing a successful trip to Beijing Children's Hospital. A total of 15 children received surgery on this trip. Plans were made for the ICHF to visit Beijing Children's Hospital twice next year, with the first trip in April and second in October.


Beijing, China - Day Two

Our 13-member team arrived in Beijing, China on May 25. They are operating at the Beijing Children's Hospital. Two children have received surgeries so far and are doing good. This is the first time that an ICHF sponsored team has been to Beijing. The mission is sponsored by Rotary District 7470 Gift of Life Program.


Team Returns from Minsk, Belarus

Our team has returned from a successful mission to Minsk, Belarus. Twenty-one children were operated on and are all doing fine. Our team will be returning to Belarus in September.


Minsk Update

At the end of mission day #8, we have operated on 14 children and all are doing well. The top left photograph shows the hands of several children before surgery which are blue and exhibit "clubbing". The young boy in the bottom left exhibits cyanosis in his lips. These are signs of hypoxia and inadaquate oxygen delivery to the body caused by heart defects which shunt blood away from the lungs. Without surgery, these children experience progressive fatigue, poor growth, and eventually die. With the surgery that we are providing, their bodies receive the necessary oxygen which allow the children to live normal lives. Outwardly, their hands and lips become pink and they have renewed energy of normal children.

The bottom right photograph shows several team members on this mission; from left to right, Dr. Valerie Schroeder, Summer Sullivan, Dr. Visnja Ivancan, Martina Pavanic, and Vickie Ellis. The top center photograph shows Suzanne Gingras, a local Belarusian nurse, and Vickie Ellis. Lastly, the top right photograph shows Suzanne Gingras with several of our children before and after surgery.


Minsk Day 2-5

This mission continues to be highly successful. We have operated on 10 children so far. From top left to bottom right, 6-year old Elena underwent aortic valve repair; 10-year old Katherine had her mitral valve repaired; 16-year old Oleg underwent double-flap valve closure of a ventricular septal defect (VSD); 11-year old Illiya had a bidirectional Glenn procedure for Epstein Anomaly; 14-year old Luda, 6-year old Tanya, and 13-year old Artiom all underwent Tetralogy of Fallot repair; and 14-year old Urie had his aortic valve replaced with a mechanical valve. During the second week, we anticipate operating on at least 12 more children. These children are from the area of Belarus which remains seriously affected by residual radiation from the Chernobyl accident.



Minsk Day 1

Our first two children on this mission are doing wonderful following heart surgery.  Four year-old Maria (left) underwent repair of Tetralogy of Fallot and 6 year-old Constatin (right) underwent closure of a ventricular septal defect (VSD).


ICHF Team Arrives in Minsk, Belarus

Our 12-member ICHF team has arrived in Minsk, Belarus to begin a two-week mission at Hospital Number 4. This is our fourth mission to Belarus. We have operated on 93 Belarussian children and expect to operate on twenty more during this mission. Sponsors for this mission include Chernobyl Children's Project International, Gift of Life Rotory District #7980 of Hamden, Connecticut, Belarussian Children's Foundation, and Federal Express. Team members include:

Bill Novick, MD, Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon, Memphis
Martina Pavanic, RN, Surgical Nurse, Memphis
Rob Reid, MD, Pediatric Intensivist, Kansas City
Joanne Price, RN, Pediatric Critical Care Nurse, Seattle
Oliver Ross, MD, Pediatric Intensivist, London
Visnja Ivancan, MD, Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiologist, Zagreb
Valerie Schroeder, MD, Pediatric Cardiologist, Lexington
Vickie Ellis, RN, Pediatric Critical Care Nurse, Memphis
Summer Sullivan, RN, Pediatric Critical Care Nurse, Memphis
Suzanne Gingras, RN, Pediatric Critical Care Nurse, Stanford
Eillen Crimmins, RN, Surgical Nurse, New York City
Lynda Hammond, Rotory District #7980, Hamden, Connecticut


 
The International Children's Heart Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)3 charitable organization based in Memphis, Tennessee. We are dedicated to helping children with congenital or acquired heart disease in developing countries throughout the world. We serve all children without respect to their race, religion or sex. Our primary goal is to make ourselves obsolete in the countries that we serve. To this end, we strive to educate the health care professionals in the countries we travel and bring them to the United States for advanced study so that they may better serve their own children.
Copyright 2004, International Children's Heart Foundation.   We appreciate your interest and support.  Questions, inquiries, or comments regarding  and/or are always welcome.  You may save the life of a child by clicking here.  The knowledge that you made such a significant difference in the life of a child, a family, and a community is priceless.